


The Sleeping Dragon

by Dr_Depravo



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Blood, Coma, Depression, F/M, Hospitals, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mild Gore, Near Death, Romance, Self-Sacrifice, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-02 18:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4069405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Depravo/pseuds/Dr_Depravo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Natsu... I've wanted to say this for a while but... I L-" That was the last thing Natsu heard before the pain. When Natsu goes into a coma after a mission what will happen at the bedside? NaLu tragic romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Falling asleep...

Natsu faded in and out of consciousness he saw with blurry eyes how Lucy bent over him screaming something but he couldn't her what it was. He heard more yelling and felt a sharp pain in his head at the loud noises. He tried to sit up but his body wouldn't listen to him. He saw the rest of the team running towards them. Wendy was immediately at his side and activated her magic.

He heard more muffled noises before everything faded to black. Natsu woke up to the feeling of being on a vehicle but strangely it didn't seem to bother him. He saw Wendy running along her hands glowing with magic with a man clad in white on the other side.

_How's it going?_

_I've managed to stop the bleeding for now but I can't do anything else and I'm running out of magic!_

_Understood can you hold until we get him to the operation table? We'll take it from there._

Natsu didn't hear anything else before his chest throbbed with pain and he felt himself falling back into the darkness.

* * *

 

It had been such a simple mission... exterminate the dark guild terrorizing the village of Byzel.

It had started out with him, Lucy, Erza, Droopy-eyes and Wendy heading out from the town after getting details from the mayor. The town of Byzel was a major trading-post for everything magic related so the dark guild often came there and wrecked havoc before taking anything valuable. The dark guild always came from the east so the team had went there hoping to ambush them. It had ended up a failure as Gray had started yet another loud argument with him blowing their cover and they had been the on getting ambushed by the dark guild.

The mages had quickly been separated and outnumbered as the dark guild obviously knew them from rumors. Natsu had quickly finished the enemies that went for him when he heard Lucy scream! Natsu had rushed over only to find Taurus getting impaled by several spikes that extended out of the enemy's body.

Natsu could smell the stench of cologne and wool which meant that Loke and Aries had already been defeated. Arrows laid scattered on the battlefield which meant Lucy had used Sagittarius too in vain. Natsu did not have time too think about it as the mage raised a spiked fist aimed for Lucy.

Natsu swiftly jumped in between them and kicked the dark mage away. The dark mage seemed excited at the prospect of a new stronger enemy and sent a wall of summoned spikes flying towards Natsu. Natsu in response clad his hands in fire and punched them all out of the air.

Natsu inhaled and roared towards the enemy who summoned another wall of spikes which tore trough the fire and tore up Natsu's shoulder. Natsu winced at the pain but ignored it and dashed towards the enemy slugging him in the face.

What followed was one of the hardest battles Natsu had ever experienced. The dark mage had a ridiculous amount of magic seemingly being able to summon swarm after swarm spikes over and over again. Natsu had difficulties inflicting any kind of lasting damage on him since he simply dispelled all Natsu's fire with his spike barrages and when Natsu tried getting into close combat he would only gain scratches all over his body from the spikes.

At one point the spikes came dangerously close to ripping one of his eyes out but Natsu was able to dodge it and punch the man in the face. Natsu however ignored the fact that spikes where sharp and were not good to touch if one wished to sustain life and kept on going into close combat like a bull only to get even more scratches for little to no damage.

At one point Lucy summoned Scorpio with the little magic left in her body in an attempt to aid the struggling Natsu. The scorpion managed to land a hit on the dark mage when he wasn't looking causing him to drop his guard for a moment.

Natsu saw the opening and landed a series of blows on him sending him flying backwards. The man however was nowhere close to being defeated and sent a spike flying from his hand piercing through Scorpio like needle does to cloth, sending him back to the Spirit World.

He rose from the ground now clad in an armor of spikes covering his entire body aside from his face which he claimed as being "The greatest defence". Natsu knew he wouldn't last much longer and made a swift decision. 

Beat him before he can beat you.

The dark mage dashed in for the kill only to get smashed by Natsu's Lighting-Fire mode right in the face. As the mage sent backwards wobbling trying to regain his footing Natsu took the chance to land a body blow despite the spikes piercing his fist.

The dark mage quickly regained his composure and threw out spike-clad punches only for Natsu to dodge and counter them with a kick which smashed into his gut through the spikes. The dark mage realized he couldn't beat him and instead tightened his guard hoping to wait him out. Natsu however was lost in an ungodly fury and just kept punching and kicking away at his guard. Spikes were crushed and smashed under the flaming hands which struck with the power of lightning.

Natsu's entire body burned in pain with every punch and kick but he didn't care or notice. The dark mage closed his eyes as Natsu broke his guard and proceeded to introduce him to a world of hurt. Spikes and blood flew all over the stage as Natsu's Crimson Lotus struck the enemy over and over before finally ending with a single fist to the stomach. The Dark mage threw up an ridiculous amount of blood as his ribs were completely shattered, before he flew backwards through rocks and trees before landing as a bloody unrecognizable pile of flesh a good ten meters away.

Natsu turned around only to get met by a crying Lucy throwing herself in his arms. Lucy took one of his hands and saw the bloody mess it had become before hugging him again. "Why!?" She asked through the tears and sobs

"Why are you always so stupid!? Do you ever think about what would happen if Fairy Tail where to lose you!?... If... I was to lose you?"

Natsu looked down at the crying girl. What was she saying!? Did she imply that maybe... "Natsu... I been meaning to say this for a while now b-but... I L-" The meaning was cut short as Natsu recognized the sound of a magic circle being activated.

He didn't even think as he pushed Lucy to the ground before he felt a searing pain in his chest. As he looked down he saw a black spike sticking out of the front.

The spike had gone straight through his chest before dissolving into thin air, leaving only a gaping wound behind. 

With great difficulty he saw the dark mage heaved up on his elbows with an evil grin on his mangled face before throwing up more blood before falling to the ground. Natsu heard Lucy shriek before falling to the ground.

The ground was warm and damp from blood. 

What was this feeling?... He was so... cold... He saw Lucy standing on her knees at his side tears streaming down her face. He tried to get out a word of reassurance but before he could get a single word out everything went black.

* * *

 

_Beep-Beep-Beep_

Natsu woke up to an extremely annoying beeping noise. As he looked around him he found himself in a completely white room.The only real decorations being a drawer at the other side of the room and a few paintings of flowers. A couple of chairs stood around the bed he was lying in and it came to him that he was lying in a hospital room.

He tried to sit up but his body didn't respond to him at all. He tried calling for help but he couldn't get a single sound out of his throat. Finding that his body had decided to go on vacation he couldn't do anything but to stay completely still.

After a good ten minutes of lying around in frustration he heard the door open and someone entering. A white-robed man walked up next to his bed and checked through his clipboard all doctor-y like humming and mumbling incoherent things. "So mister Dragneel is it... several minor lacerations, left hand and both legs hold major lacerations and puncture wounds although no major damage to the bone... Right hand is extremely lacerated and has taken extensive damage to the bone... other than blood loss from the impalement wound to the chest but somehow no major organs were damaged. He was very lucky to have survived."

Only now did Natsu realize that the team had been standing on the other side of the bed looking worried all the time. They all looked like they had been through a rough fight and were all dressed in hospital clothes.

Erza had a bandage covering her shoulder and a second one on the right side of her head.

Gray seemed to have gotten out relatively unharmed aside from the bandage covering his midsection only seen thanks to his lack of clothing.

Wendy had plasters on her face and arms and a bandage on her leg. Lucy also had plasters from where the spike-mage had managed to struck her but other than that she looked a little pale from magic-depravation she was as beautiful as always.

Wait what?

Natsu were pulled out of his thoughts by Erza who had begun talking with the doctor. "Was there really no other way!?" She asked with anger and worry in her voice and Natsu decided to listen to what could make her so upset.

"I'm afraid not miss Scarlet." The doctor said. "Mister Dragneel had taken extensive damage both physical and mentally. To avoid his body shutting down completely we had to put him into a comatose state to slow down his bodily functions while we performed the operation. He can neither move or speak and it's unknown if he's at all conscious."

"But why couldn't you just have put him to sleep!?" Erza raged on, grabbing the man by the collar seemingly ready to strike, should his answer be unsatifactory 

"Trust me when I say that this was the only way! If had let him stay awake he would without a doubt have died before we could stitch up he chest wound!" The man explained in a calm professional voice clearly being used to people having a hard time taking bad news.

At his words Erza let the man go and mumbled out an apology before taking a seat with her head in her hands. Meanwhile Wendy had started crying and was being comforted by Gray who held her in a brotherly hug as she cried.

Lucy just stood there staring at Natsu before turning to the doctor. "For how long will he stay like this?" She asked the doctor who sighed before answering.

"You must understand that he has taken extensive damage in both mind and body miss Heartphilia. Even with patients who's put into comas like these with lesser injuries can stay like this for months even years. This man is probably the worst case we've ever had in this hospital and so there's no real way to tell. It could be a week, a month or even ten years for all we know. The only thing we can be completely sure of that until his mind has healed he won't wake up."

At this point Lucy started crying and had to get Gray's help to a chair to calm down. During this scene Natsu had desperately been screaming _No I'm awake! Why can't you hear me!? Listen goddamnit!_ to no avail. The words rushed through his head but never reached his mouth. His body was asleep but his mind was awake. And the only question on that mind was: When am I gonna wake up?


	2. Hospital Feels

**The Sleeping Dragon**

**Chapter 2**

It had been two weeks since Natsu fell into his comatose state in which Natsu could see and hear everything around him but was unable to talk or move at all.

So far Natsu had learned two important life lessons.

One: The Magnolia hospital takes very good care of their patients. Seriously they were kind enough to get a man to wash him and there were always someone monitoring him.

Two: Lying in a hospital all day unable to move was boring as hell!

Since Natsu was completely unable to move he couldn't talk to any of his guardians or even watch a movie lacryma. Normally when patients were unable to move they would get things to do but since no one knew Natsu was conscious and he had no way of telling them he had no choice but to spend his days watching the roof and counting dots (43 small and 5 big)

At least his friends didn't forget about him. Everyday one from the team visited him and spent an hour or so talking before leaving. Usually it was Lucy or Happy who came and visited and talked about the guild, what everyone had been up to, tasty fish they had eaten and so on. However it wasn't like they were the only ones visiting. Erza and Wendy came to visit when they got the chance often bringing a small gift which began piling up on the drawer and some of the guild members came to visit too.

Romeo had visited with his dad and Wakaba and promised to go on a fishing trip when he woke up. Natsu would have to hold them to that.

Levy had visited with Gajeel bringing homemade cookies. Sadly Levy had to leave early leaving the immobile Natsu together with a scheming Gajeel. The nurse had spent almost an hour trying to get the graffiti off Natsu's face. Natsu would have to hold him in a Boston Crab for that.

However over time Natsu noticed that Lucy was the one who visited the most. Natsu actually thought she'd visit a lot less after daily visits the first week, but no. Lucy continued to show up every other day punctual as a clock. This puzzled Natsu to no end. She was always complaining about rent so he found it weird that she'd waste time on him instead of doing missions.

One day after Lucy had left for the day the male nurse assigned to him for the day walked in and sat down beside him. It was quiet for a while before the nurse began talking with Natsu, "You're a lucky guy you know? Having a pretty girl come and visit all the time."

Natsu couldn't answer so the Nurse kept talking. "She your girlfriend?" He asked causing Natsu to sputter inside his head. The man rubbed his chin thinking for a while "Guess she has to be. Either that or she's into you why else would she visit so often?"

Natsu laid shocked by the man's words and for a minute it felt like his brain had shut down too. His thoughts were a complete mess and he felt like he should have had a headache if it weren't for his numbed body.

" _Does Lucy like me!? No way! We're friends!_ " Just then a mental image of himself and Lucy walking together hand in hand flashed before him " _NO! Bad brain! We're friends and that's it!_ " Image of himself kissing Lucy passionately " _No! There's no way she'd like a moron like me! She's always rambling on about her perfect well-mannered prince who comes riding on a white horse while reading poetry..."_ Mental image of he and Lucy in bed together kissing each other  **really** deep. " _goddamnit brain! Stop it! She doesn't like me and that's final!_ "

At the thought of Lucy not liking him Natsu suddenly stopped his train of thoughts and began thinking rationally. " _But... on the off-chance that she would actually like me... what would I do about it?_ " Suddenly an image of Lucy flashed before his mind. That smile when he took her arm the day they first met... Her smile when he beat Gajeel and saved her from Phantom Lord's base... The sad smile she gave during the fight against Hades... Those were different from the smiles she gave everyone else weren't they?

Natsu wondered when he began paying so much attention to her smiles... It might have been after the fight with Hades... no it was probably earlier... During the Edolas trip perhaps? He had been really scared when everyone disappeared but she was the first one he missed... When he saw that she was safe and sound (aside from the guards attacking her) he was so relieved he couldn't put it to words. Did that mean that he liked her? Or was it just finding out your friend was safe and sound that had made him happy?

Natsu realized he didn't have an answer to this... Maybe he'd ask Gildarts once he was out of hospital. The man had always been good with things like this... Like when Natsu saw his first pubes and got scared it was something dangerous. Gildarts had taken the terrified boy on a fishing trip and given him "The man talk" and explained how it was completely normal.

Yeah he'd ask Gildarts once he got out of hospital. For now he'd just lie here and listen to the nurse ramble on about how his latest girlfriend had broken up with him in a letter. Natsu didn't know the feeling but he could imagine it was painful and it made him feel sorry for the man.

* * *

A week later Natsu was still in bed after a well needed wash when he heard the door open. At first he thought it was Lucy or Erza again but he quickly felt the smell of cold and nudity and realized it was way worse than Erza... it was...

"Yo Flame-brain!"

...gray. Natsu wanted to ask him to leave but he couldn't... it was hell...

"So what's been happening lately? Still unconscious?" The ice-mage asked and laughed at his not really funny joke.

Natsu snorted inside his mind at the ice-mage. If he had come all the way here just to make fun of him then Natsu would zone out everything he said.

"So listen... It's about Lucy... she's... she's not doing so well... not well at all actually..." The ice-mage said in a pained voice.

This made Natsu listen up " _This better be really important because I'm about to listen to Gray..._ "

"She's blaming herself you know? You took a blow meant for her and almost died! She's barely eating, her eyes are always red from crying, no one's seen her write on her novel for weeks and last week we basically had to force her to go on a mission..." Gray sighed deeply "She's depressed Natsu... She's harming herself by not doing anything..."

Natsu wanted to cry at the news... During all of her visits he hadn't noticed a single thing... Was she really that bad off? Was Lucy so emotionally broken that she didn't even want to eat. All of a sudden Gray brought down his hands on both sides of Natsu's pillow bringing them face to face. "Listen up you fiery moron... If you don't get your comatose ass out of this hospital soon Lucy will be so bad off that she'll be forced to join you!"

Natsu couldn't respond despite wanting to. When Gray didn't get a response he pulled himself off the bed and picked up his shirt and pants he had stripped out of at some point during the conversation. "I really hope you wake up soon you moron... And... thanks for saving Lucy..." And with those words Gray left Natsu alone in the room with nothing but emotional pain.

Natsu thought about Gray's words for a while. Why would Lucy feel guilty for? He was alive wasn't he? " _Stop it Lucy... I don't want you in pain... I hate it when you're hurt and in pain! That's why I pushed you out of the way... because... I'd rather it be me than you..."_

As Natsu laid in bed a single tear could be seen running from his eye across the cheek before hitting the bed.

* * *

Three days later Lucy came to visit once again only this time Natsu could see how bad her depression was. Her hair was dirty as if it hadn't been washed for a week, her cheeks were caving in and she was paler than a ghost...

"Hi Natsu how are you doing?" She asked as she entered the room not getting a response. She seemed a little disturbed by it but quickly shrugged it off.

"Look Natsu I brought cookies today! They might have been a little to long in the oven but they should still be pretty good."

She was so cheerful Natsu thought as she proceeded to talk about the latest news of the guild, apparently Elfman and Evergreen had been found in the closet together with disheveled clothes and hair put they insisted that had been busy planning a surprise birthday party for Laxus and simply slipped on a broom. No one believed them however as Laxus's birthday was four months away and they never celebrated it anyway.

Lucy kept talking for a good fifteen minutes but then suddenly turned quiet.

Natsu watched her before realizing that she was crying! He couldn't move as she started sobbing and the tears ran across her face in floods.

"I'm sorry..."She said in the thinnest voice possible "I just can't take it anymore... I... I  **love** you so much Natsu but..." She took a pause to swallow her tears. "But seeing you like this... I... I can't take it! I'm sorry!"

Lucy was just about to leave when she felt an arm grab her wrist as looked down she saw Natsu looking up at her fully awake.

"Lucy...don't go... please." Natsu said throat dry and mind blurry "don't leave... l... love you too... don't leave... please..."

**End of chapter 2**


	3. Waking Up: Feelings Revealed

"I can't take it anymore! I'm sorry!"

Natsu's world seemed to slow down around him. She loved him!? Not as a friend!? As a... something more!? Natsu felt how his arm moved as in slow-motion towards her. Somehow he knew.

The way her smiles made him feel better when he failed to find Igneel.

The way her presence seemed to light up the guild when ever she entered.

The way her tears always made him stand up to keep on fighting...

And how her smell made his travel sickness feel better.

He knew! That Lucy, Lucy Heartphilia was way to perfect for him to let her go now!

* * *

Lucy gasped as she felt something tighten around her wrist. Through her tears she managed to look down at where Natsu was holding her wrist. "Lucy... don't go... please..." Natsu whispered "don't leave... l... love you too... don't leave... please..."

Natsu.

Natsu was holding her wrist.

Natsu coughed as Lucy slammed into him catching him in a bear-hug. "Natsu! Natsu! You're awake! Oh thank god!" Lucy screamed as she cried in relief.

"Lucy... wound... hurts..." Natsu managed to whisper with his sore throat causing Lucy to let go faster than Gray can strip.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't think... I- I was just so... happy..." She got down to her knees and looked him straight in the eyes while stroking his cheek as if to make sure that he really was awake. "Your really back right? I'm not dreaming right?" She said with tears still running across her face.

"I sure hope not." Natsu said "Because I just heard the girl of my dreams said that she loved me. Would really suck if this whole thing turned out to be a dream." He said smiling weakly.

Lucy blushed at his words. "Girl of your dreams eh? Is she pretty?" she said with a sly smile.

"Yeah... she's real pretty... look I'd love to talk more but I think I need a doctor and a glass of water because my throat is killing me." he said with a laugh which ended up as a nasty cough.

Lucy just smiled at him and pressed the call button next to his bed before walking over to the sink and poured him a glass of cool water which he happily drank before asking for another glass.

Before he could finish it the doctor arrived followed by a nurse. "Ah! Mister Dragneel has awoken! You gave us a real scare boy!" He said before walking over to Natsu to look him in the eyes for any chance of brain damage.

"Well his eyes seem to be working fine at least." The doctor said after checking both eyes. "Can you remember anything of the injury? Where you were at the time etc."

Natsu thought for a moment "It was... outside the town of Byzel right? A dark mage stabbed me from behind?"

"Very good..." The doctor said before asking more questions. Lucy just stood at the side and watched him. Natsu was awake... He was awake...finally... after weeks of torture... The princess had her dragon back...

* * *

**One week later**

"You don't have to visit everyday Lucy!" Natsu said sitting up in his hospital bed. The doctor hadn't found any brain damage and was very surprised to hear that he had been mentally awake during the coma. (Something they decided had to do with him being a dragon-slayer) Still the doctor insisted that he'd stay in hospital for another month to let his wound heal and to check if he did have any brain-damage after all.

"Yes I do!" Lucy said from his bedside where she was busy peeling an apple for him. "If I'm not watching you you'll just try to do something stupid and hurt yourself even worse!  _P_ _lus I really like spending time with you..._ " she said leaving that last part in her head.

Natsu snorted but didn't comment on that. He had hoped to get to work out some at least but the doctor said that he was not allowed to do any kind of exercise outside of rehab.

"Besides I won't be here everyday you dolt! I have rent and food money to think about so me, Gray and Erza will take turns watching you." She said before handing him the apple.

Natsu took a bite out of the apple and thought for a moment. "Third floor board to the left... Beneath the sofa..." He said.

"Huh?" Lucy said wondering what he was up to.

""Listen closely now." Natsu pulled her closer to him and whispered in her ear. "Underneath my sofa, the third board to the left is loose. If you lift it you'll find a safe. The combination is 6-5-4-5 inside it you'll find a bag containing my emergency savings. Take them and use them for rent and food."

"What!? Why!?" Lucy said confused about why he'd give her his emergency money.

"I... I'd rather have you here then anyone else..." He said blushing bright red.

"Oh Natsu..." Lucy sighed. She was happy that he enjoyed her company but she had as a pride of not taking loans. "You're gonna need a better argument then that." She smiled slyly

Natsu flinched at the prospect of having to think but he did so anyway. "Ok what about this!" He said excitedly "If its Gray who stays here we'll end up fighting and we wouldn't want that would we? Also if it's Erza I'll end up trying to fight her and that would make me worse!" This time it was Natsu's turn to smile slyly

"And if you let me stay with Happy we'll end up playing all day! And that would be really bad wouldn't it? So as you can see you have no choice but stay here as my blonde beautiful guardian angel!" Natsu blushed as he realized that he'd called her beautiful but Lucy just smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek causing his face to turn even redder.

"Okay... I can't argue with logic after all." She said before giving him another kiss this time on the forehead. By this Natsu was so red it looked like his head was about to start burning any second now.

"No... guess you can't..." Natsu squeaked causing Lucy to giggle at him.

* * *

"Natsu it's time to change your bandages!" Lucy said as she entered the room. "The nurse said I could take care of it today!"

Natsu actually flinched at the thought of her changing his bandages since that would involve him having to show her his upper body. He shook his head and wondered what he was afraid of. She'd seen his bare chest plenty of times... But somehow knowing that she was his sort of-not-completely-official-yet girlfriend made it feel different...

Lucy saw that Natsu seemed nervous and simply smiled at him. She climbed up in bed next to him and helped him take off his shirt and put the cheap hospital clothing aside before unwinding the bandages wrapped around his chest.

She grimaced as she saw the deep scar which was left from the grotesque wound he had taken in her place. Knowing that his feelings for her was so strong that he'd risk his life for her almost made up for the pain she'd gone through while he was comatose. She was pulled out of her thought as she realized that Natsu was shuddering at her eyes on his chest.

Instead of bandaging his chest like she was supposed to she bent forward and gave him a soft kiss on the middle of the scar. Natsu blushed and stuttered out a meek "W-w-what are you doing!?"

Lucy just smiled at how cute he was when he blushed "Isn't it generally accepted that you kiss wounds to make people feel better right? Who knows it might heal faster this way!" She giggled while she wrapped his chest with bandages.

Natsu laughed at his almost-girlfriend's playful antics and suddenly got a sly idea. While Lucy was busy wrapping his hands he bit himself in the lip just so hard that it'd bleed.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed although it didn't really hurt getting her attention.

"What is it!?" She asked worried that his wounds might be hurting.

"I bit my lip!" He fake-whined "It hurts! Lucy you have to kiss it to make it better!" He whined with a sly smile on his face.

Lucy blushed as she realized the nature of his scheme but smiled nevertheless and climbed up on top of him. "Idiot... You only had to ask..." She said before giving him a kiss.

She hummed in pleasure as she realized that he tasted like peaches... She suddenly felt him kiss her back and how his tounge tried to enter. She eagerly let it in and felt the peachy taste intensify.

At the same time Natsu was enjoying all the tastes in her mouth. First it tasted like mango... then strawberries... then the taste became more like cherries. This continued on and Natsu enjoyed all of the different tastes.

However the need for air eventually became too great and they separated panting and with saliva running down their cheeks. A single look at each other was all there was time for before they were at it again, leaving Natsu's leg with old bandages for now...

* * *

"Well then Mister Dragneel your wounds seem to be healing without any issues whatsoever." The doctor said during Natsu's next checkup. "Your stats seem to have improved however there is one thing that's worrying me... Let's see... " He said flipping to his papers.

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other expecting the worst.

"Ah here it is! This is nothing to be worried about but we've noticed irregularities in your heart beat. They go from completely stopping for a beat to then suddenly skyrocketing." The doctor said getting nervous blushes from Natsu and Lucy. "The times are completely random but they seem to be focused around visiting hours... Do you have any idea of what could be the reason for this?"

Natsu gulped and realized the reason for his heart skipping a beat most likely sat next to him. "No... I dunno." He simply said face bright red. The blush did not go unnoticed by the doctor who just laughed and left the two youngsters on their own. " _Ah to be young again_ " He thought as he heard the girl giggle at the antics of her boyfriend.

* * *

Three weeks later Natsu was released from the hospital and returned home. The doctor said his wounds had healed nicely but that he should take it easy for a while. Meaning no unnecessary fights and no hard missions. Natsu growled at the fact that even after he'd gotten out of the hospital he was still not allowed to do anything harder than basic muscle training.

He was sitting in his bed feeling bored reading manga with Lucy cleaning the entire house for what seemed like the thousandth time that week. Ever since Natsu returned home she had been staying at his place sleeping in the hammock in the living room letting Natsu take the bed he rarely used anyhow.

Lucy entered the room wearing an apron she brought from her home. She hummed happily as she swept the entire floor with a broom.

Natsu watched her as she cleaned his room. Since he returned home she had returned to her typical happy self. The cheeks that just a month later had been so thin had filled in and gone back to normal. Natsu was happy she that she wasn't harming herself by starvation anymore... Now he could watch her beautiful body without flinching at how thin it was.

He found himself staring inappropriately at her behind as she bent down to sweep beneath a drawer. Things didn't get worse when her "assets" was shaking quite a bit through the apron when she walked. Natsu could not help his eyes going up and down as soon as Lucy looked another way.

Suddenly something snapped within Natsu and he smiled slyly to himself.

All of a sudden Natsu began coughing loudly (not to mention falsely) getting Lucy's attention.

"Oh God Natsu!" She screamed and ran over to his bedside. "Are you okay!? Is it the wounds!?" She asked.

Natsu just smirked before grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the bed getting a yelp from her. He got up and pinned her to the bed before giving her a rough kiss.

"My beautiful girlfriend is walking around in my bedroom. There's no way I'd not be okay." He said before kissing her again.

Lucy blushed at being called his girlfriend and realized that he was much more aggressive than usual.  _So this is how he does it when he's not sick!_

"Mine... Mine... Only mine..." Natsu grunted as he let his kisses work lower and lower. He grabbed the apron and ripped it off Lucy leaving her in top and skirt only.  _Is this what they mean by dragons hoarding treasures?_ Lucy thought before Natsu kissed her collarbone causing her to gasp.

Little did they know Happy was watching them through the bedroom window.

"They liiiiike each other" He said "And... they're taking off their clothes..." Happy jumped back in shock as Lucy's bra hit the window. "I should leave..."

* * *

The young couple laid in bed hugging each other after yet another 'naked wrestling match' as Natsu liked to put it. Lucy was stroking Natsu across the chest and suddenly came to a stop. Natsu looked down at her to see what had made her stop. He flinched as he saw where she'd put her hand.

The scar.

It wasn't a grisly scar as they'd thought it was actually pretty simple. A bit of the scar was sunken in but the doctor said it'd heal with time.

"Lucy it's okay." Natsu said softly.

"Yes I know it's just..." She sniffled "When you laid in that hospital bed... The wound was so terrifying... I didn't know if you'd ever wake up!... and... it'd be my fault in that case..." At this point Lucy's eyes were filled with tears and she looked like she would start crying at any second.

Natsu simply snorted and bopped her on her forehead. "Lucy I took that hit willingly. And I'd do it a thousand times over if it meant I could keep you safe. I love you remember? And besides I'm built like an oak so a hole through my chest is nothing."

Lucy smiled at her stupid boyfriend. She'd really been worried the entire time since the injury even after he got out of the hospital. She'd been so close to losing him. The life of a mage was always so dangerous but this one had been especially close.

"Well I'm not leaving your side until I'm sure you're not going to do something this stupid again." Lucy said while hugging him closer to her.

"You do realize you're gonna be stuck with a while then? Like at least a good 50 years?" Natsu laughed.

"Don't worry." Lucy said while climbing on top off him smirking "I'm sure I won't be bored."

Natsu laughed at his insatiable girlfriend as the next round of the wrestling began.

The dragon had woken up. And he wasn't about to go back to sleep for a while.

**The End**


	4. Epilouge

****

_He was falling._

_Why!? He won right?_

_The limp body fell onto the hard ground with a thud._

_She hurried over and saw the hole in his chest. Blood was flowing out of it covering the ground._

_So... much... blood..._

* * *

Lucy shot out of bed. She looked around and saw that she was in Natsu's bedroom. No bloody Natsu... No enemies.

She looked over at the other side of the bed but didn't see her boyfriend. Panic shot through her body but when she heard his voice echo through the house she calmed down.

She got out of bed and walked over to the kitchen making herself a glass of water which she quickly emptied.

Before getting back to bed she walked over to the expansion room Natsu and the boys from the guild had built to Natsu's house a few months back. Standing in the doorway she saw her fianceé sitting in a rocking chair with a bundle in his arms. As he rocked back and forth he sang his favorite lullaby.

_Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee, Little Jackie paper loved that rascal puff, And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh._

_Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee._

_Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail, Noble kings and princes would bow wheneer they came, Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!_

She smiled at the sight of her boyfriend/soon-to-be-husband sat with their little 3-months old son singing lullabies. He saw her standing in the door opening and smiled towards her.

Putting the small bundle back in it's crib Natsu walked over to Lucy and gave her a kiss on the cheek "Sorry if I woke you up. Thu woke up and was crying and I didn't want him to wake you."

Lucy smiled and hugged him towards her burying her face in his chest. At first Natsu thought nothing of it but when he felt the smell of salt he realized she was crying.

"Hey what is it Lucy? Why are you crying?"

Lucy pulled back a sob and whispered. "I had a dream... It was about  **that**  day... And when I woke up... you weren't there... Please don't leave me like that again."

Natsu looked down at his fiancée. "Hey I've said it before and i'll say it again. I won't leave you alone like that again no matter what happens."

Lucy looked up from his chest. "Thank you. I love you so much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thuban is a star in the Draco constellation. It seemed like a nice mix-up between Natsu's magic and Lucy's magic.


End file.
